By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

MARIANAS Baptist Academy visited Grace Christian Academy’s court in Navy Hill and ignored the Eagles’ homecourt edge posting a 35-26 victory in the boys’ middle school division of the Coalition of Private Schools basketball tournament last Tuesday.
The win was the Stormz second in three matches. They won over Saipan International School in their debut game on Jan. 23 but lost to Mt. Carmel on Feb. 1.
MBA held the defending champions Eagles to four points in the last four minutes, 26 seconds of their game to eke out a nine-point win.
The match was temporarily stopped with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter and the GCA Eagles leading by two, 24-22, due to rain.
After about 30 minutes, the game resumed, but GCA was was cold, committing a lot of turnovers and having a hard time finding their marks.
The break gave MBA time to talk things out, come back into the game and steal the win.
Norman Chan and Paul Samson led the Stormz impressive finish scoring 11 of MBA’s last 13 points.
MBA inbounded the ball when the game resumed and Samson drove to the basket and scored two points.
In succeeding plays, GCA had a hard time getting the ball to its frontcourt with MBA using the backcourt-pressure defense.
The Stormz’ harassing defense forced the Eagles to commit passing errors. With their backcourt defense holding, MBA had a couple of steals, which helped them drill easy layups.
Chan and C.W. Lee topscored for the Stormz with 12 points apiece, while Samson chipped in eight. A. Park added four markers.
Romulo Sarmiento paced the Eagles with 12 points, while Bryan Kim contributed six.
The Eagles dropped to a 2-2 record. They won over the Seventh Day Adventists and Whispering Palms but bowed to the MCS Knights.
Meanwhile, action in the middle school basketball tournament continues today with five games scheduled at different venues.
The Eagles play Saipan Community School both in the boys’ and girls’ divisions at the SCS court in Susupe.
SDA visits Saipan International School in As Lito, while Whispering Palms hosts MBA.
Scores:
MBA 35—Lee 12, Chan 12, Samson 8, Park 4.
GCA 26—Sarmiento 12, Kim 6, Salas 4, Vertudez 2, Dimaano 2.
Quarterscores: 8-3, 11-12, 20-21, 35-26